1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of marketing and promotional advertising and, more particularly, directed to a method for providing promotional material, such as coupons, advertisements, samples, food recipes, publications, informational sheets, and other promotional items, such as refrigerator-door magnets, inside packages of sliced bread, so as to directly target segments of consumers identified as primary demographic groups in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
2. Art Background
Product xe2x80x9ccouponingxe2x80x9d dates back to the late 1890""s, when C. W. Post developed penny tokens that were redeemable on his then new xe2x80x9cGrape-Nutsxe2x80x9d breakfast cereal. Realizing the effectiveness of couponing as a means to generate trial, as well as encourage repeat purchases, companies such as Coca Cola, Procter and Gamble, and Hershey quickly adopted this marketing innovation. Today, couponing is the dominant promotion marketing tool employed by consumer-driven companies to stimulate consumer behavior in multiple channels of distribution. Whereas, at one point in time, couponing was employed almost exclusively by the consumer package goods (CPG) industry, it is now utilized extensively by companies such as Blockbuster Video, Pizza Hut, and Lenscrafters.
Currently, the predominant methods of coupon delivery are Shared Mail, which delivers national and local coupons wrapped in a supermarket retailer""s weekly flyer, direct mail and Sunday Free Standing Inserts (FSI), which are four color, multi-page inserts distributed through Sunday newspapers. Currently, couponing is dominated by FSIs, which were introduced in 1972. In 1999, FSIs accounted for 92% of the 288 billion coupons distributed, as well as 71% of all redemptions.
However, the shear number of coupons distributed provides only a partial indication of the level of success achieved by any couponing scheme; success also depends on the frequency with which the distributed coupons are actually redeemed by consumers. In this regard, while the FSI share of distribution has increased slightly since the mid-1990""s, declining coupon redemption rates have led advertisers to explore alternative avenues to improve cost efficiency and effectiveness. As such, in the past several years, coupon distribution has declined as the search for more effective promotional schemes has prompted marketers to divert promotional spending from FSIs and redirect it towards targeted, in-store methods in order to reach consumers who are most likely to use coupons, as well as those users who are amenable to product trial and brand switching.
As alternative marketing strategies have been sought, numerous new advertising schemes have been introduced (and, in some cases, subsequently vanished) over the past several years. These include (1) Co-op direct mail programs, which can be divided into two categories, i.e., shared and consumer direct; (2) xe2x80x9celectronic shelfxe2x80x9d, featuring four color coupons that are distributed at the shelf via a plastic dispenser in supermarkets and drug/mass merchandiser outlets; (3) xe2x80x9celectronic checkoutxe2x80x9d,where coupons are issued at supermarket checkout based upon competitive, complimentary, or like product scanned; (4) xe2x80x9cin-pack/on-packxe2x80x9d couponing, where coupons are inserted in or on product packages by CPGs and are usually redeemable on a subsequent purchase of the same product and occasionally a complimentary product; (5) xe2x80x9cinstant redeemable couponsxe2x80x9d, which are on-pack coupons that are affixed to product packages and designed such that consumers can remove them at a retailer""s shelf for immediate redemption; (6) newspaper R.O.P., which involves coupons printed as part of the redirect paper or flyer itself, and can be executed as a co-op or on a solo basis; (7) magazine couponing, which is normally executed on a solo basis, but may be included as a four-color pop up insert in selected magazines; (8) xe2x80x9cinteractive couponsxe2x80x9d, which typically rely upon kiosks for distribution; (9) xe2x80x9cXtraValuxe2x80x9d coupons, where CPG coupons have been distributed in xe2x80x9csaddlebagxe2x80x9d pouches that are placed over the neck of one-gallon milk containers; (10) xe2x80x9cEgg couponsxe2x80x9d,where multi-folded coupons are inserted into cartons of eggsxe2x80x94this program eventually failed due to inconsistent retailer coverage, limited reach, and coupon damage caused by cracked eggs; (11) xe2x80x9coff-the-shelfxe2x80x9d couponing, which utilizes disposable shelf dispensers; (12) xe2x80x9cAd-Stripxe2x80x9d, where two- and four-color coupons are printed on the gusset strip of supermarket and department store plastic shopping bags; and (13) internet coupons.
Still, FSI""s and shared mail continue to dominate because they provide advertisers with a promotion and advertising medium that delivers broad reach at an affordable rate. On the other hand, both of these coupon-delivery methods suffer from at least two major weaknesses: they do not have an in-store presence and they deliver low redemption rates.
The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent through the following description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating particular embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only and various modifications may naturally be performed without deviating from the spirit of the present invention.